The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council, the apex body of the Catholic Church in Kerala, has stepped in to douse the controversy in the Syro-Malabar Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly over a series of land deals that have landed the archdiocese in financial trouble. The developments have led a group of laity and priests to demand that the head of the Syro-Malabar Church Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry must step down until the investigations, ordered by the High Court of Kerala last week, cleared his name.
KCBC president Archbishop Susai Pakiam and Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church met the Cardinal amid speculations that the KCBC had offered to mediate. Church sources said that the two senior church functionaries had met members of the Presbyteral Council (Council of Priests) of the Syro-Malabar Archdiocese earlier to discuss the issues that come up in relation to the land sales and purchases.
KCBC secretary general Fr. Varghese Vallikkatt was not available for comment on the development. However, it is learnt that the KCBC action was intensified by the developments on Friday after a group of priests took out a march to the Major Archbishop’s house to submit a memorandum that the Cardinal must step down immediately in the wake of the High Court ordering a police probe.
